Have you missed your calling?

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Frodoleader · #1 Post by **Frodoleader** » Wed Oct 26, 2011 12:34 pm

I know once before we discussed what our jobs and careers were. In fact, I think I initiated that thread. I got to thinking, if I did not have the job I now do, what else would I like to have done?
Since we are on a web page dedicated to a TV show, it occured to me that I would have liked to have been involved in television production in some manner, maybe as a director, producer or writer. I think I could do a good job at it.
So, tell us what job you think could do, other than what you do now. Keep it honest. Yeah, I know, we all could make a fantastic rock stars or superstar athletes or Hollywood leading actors.
Did you miss your true calling?

AmandaByNight · #2 Post by **AmandaByNight** » Wed Oct 26, 2011 2:03 pm

I'd make a horrible rock star, but I'd love it!

I'm a full time student now. When I lived in Los Angeles, I thought I wanted a career in film, but I ended up disliking a lot of it (I worked a little as a production assistant on a low budget thriller), and I'm just now going after a dream I've always had which is to get a Masters in Library Science (big difference, right?), but after I turned 30 I thought I was too old for school (and I foolishly let some people encourage the idea as well), so I'm getting a rather late start. I am hoping to get a Bachelors in some film or history related subject and move into my masters with a concentration in archiving so I can work in preservation. It's a big dream of mine, but the ultimate dream is to become a well known historian on the made for tv movie genre, and this is a step in that direction, but I'm fine if that doesn't happen either.

That said, aside from being a full time writer (journalist, magazine writer or editor of some sort), I can't imagine myself anywhere else. I'm also a straight A student, 2 years counting, and I just got invited into a national honors society.

And yesterday, I got a letter of recommendation from my teacher because I moved and I'm applying to a couple of schools here. She said I was a fantastic student! I love being so good at it!

Pahonu · #3 Post by **Pahonu** » Wed Oct 26, 2011 3:46 pm

AmandaByNight wrote:When I lived in Los Angeles, I thought I wanted a career in film, but I ended up disliking a lot of it (I worked a little as a production assistant on a low budget thriller)

I worked a little over two years in production for a television series in the mid 90's and also ended up disliking it alot. The pay was pretty good but the hours were horrible. I lived on the west side of LA which is pretty fast paced. I'm sure you heard the industry phrase "hurry up and wait." Lots of excrutiatingly boring down time and then a frantic pace to get something done yesterday. I tried a few other things in the industry as well, but decided I wanted to go a whole different route and went back to school like you. I walked away from a pretty good contract so I could teach, and for less money at that! Sixteen years later, I don't regret it one bit. The pay is better and the hours much better. I moved to slower paced Long Beach, started a family, enjoy the outdoor lifestyle, and I wouldn't change a thing.

Good luck on finding what makes you happiest.

Seaver41 · #4 Post by **Seaver41** » Wed Oct 26, 2011 4:27 pm

20-20 hindsight....if I only knew then what I know now...........I might've gone the lawyer route...but I went Finance major. Sports talk radio may have been the true calling I missed. I was in college just as that craze was taking shape in mid 80's.

AmandaByNight · #5 Post by **AmandaByNight** » Wed Oct 26, 2011 10:42 pm

Pahonu wrote:
AmandaByNight wrote:When I lived in Los Angeles, I thought I wanted a career in film, but I ended up disliking a lot of it (I worked a little as a production assistant on a low budget thriller)
I worked a little over two years in production for a television series in the mid 90's and also ended up disliking it alot. The pay was pretty good but the hours were horrible. I lived on the west side of LA which is pretty fast paced. I'm sure you heard the industry phrase "hurry up and wait." Lots of excrutiatingly boring down time and then a frantic pace to get something done yesterday. I tried a few other things in the industry as well, but decided I wanted to go a whole different route and went back to school like you. I walked away from a pretty good contract so I could teach, and for less money at that! Sixteen years later, I don't regret it one bit. The pay is better and the hours much better. I moved to slower paced Long Beach, started a family, enjoy the outdoor lifestyle, and I wouldn't change a thing.

Good luck on finding what makes you happiest.

Thank you so much for the well wishing and congrats on finding your true calling!

I have lots of friends who work in film and LOVE it, but sometimes it just doesn't fit for someone. Most of my friends work job to job as well, and not on a TV series like you did (although I have a friend who's husband works as a camera operator on a show and enjoys it), and it was just too unstable for me... I don't live in LA anymore, moved across the country, and I miss my friends, but I'm glad to be moving into something else...

Visiting Stewardess · Thu Oct 27, 2011 8:16 pm

After university I was in financial journalism. I liked journalism, but the finance was boring me. I ended up being a mortgage specialist, even though I knew nothing about mortgages when I started out.
After that I moved into fashion journalism. I really thought I had found my calling, until I found out that every one around me was on drugs most of the time. I couldn't handle that, and I really wanted to leave.

Now I really think I have found my calling as a translator. I have never been so satisfied in my job as I am now. But if I wasn't a translator, I'd like to be a carpenter or a joiner.

Honest!

It sounds weird, but I enjoy working with wood. About 2 years ago I bought an old cupboard from a junk shop and I did it all up. It's in my living room now, and everyone thinks it's always been like that.
Here are the "before" and "after" shots....

IKnowWhatYoureThinking · Fri Oct 28, 2011 1:36 pm

Nice work! I really have no idea what I'd do. I think it would be nice to have my own cigar shop.

Frodoleader · #8 Post by **Frodoleader** » Fri Oct 28, 2011 1:48 pm

[quote="Visiting Stewardess"]After university I was in financial journalism. I liked journalism, but the finance was boring me. I ended up being a mortgage specialist, even though I knew nothing about mortgages when I started out.
After that I moved into fashion journalism. I really thought I had found my calling, until I found out that every one around me was on drugs most of the time. I couldn't handle that, and I really wanted to leave.

Now I really think I have found my calling as a translator. I have never been so satisfied in my job as I am now. But if I wasn't a translator, I'd like to be a carpenter or a joiner.

Honest!

It sounds weird, but I enjoy working with wood. About 2 years ago I bought an old cupboard from a junk shop and I did it all up. It's in my living room now, and everyone thinks it's always been like that.
Here are the "before" and "after" shots....

Call me a dope or what, but I thought you really were a stewardess!!

Visiting Stewardess · Fri Oct 28, 2011 2:38 pm

Frodoleader wrote: Call me a dope or what, but I thought you really were a stewardess!!

Haha, funny. I have actually worked at an airline once, but not as a stewardess. I was in the press office briefly after leaving journalism... so I moved to the dark side.

#10 Post by **J.J. Walters** » Sun Oct 30, 2011 1:34 pm

A beachcomber in Fiji. Maybe in another life.

Thomas_Magnum · #11 Post by **Thomas_Magnum** » Mon Oct 31, 2011 2:35 am

I have done quite a few jobs. Oilfield in my late teens-early 20s, bartender, security manager, police officer (SWAT counter-sniper) for 15 yrs, US Navy (tours in the Mideast where my radio call sign was "Magnum" cause of my never-in-regs mustache and wavy hair), and now UN police advisor in Haiti. There is a saying that goes something like... Why leave a good looking corpse when you die. Wouldn't it be better to be headed towards the grave going 90 mph with your hair on fire, sliding into the hole sideways yelling, "WHAT A RIDE!" Well, so far my hair is smoldering... I'm sure I found my calling but wasn't listening.

N1095A · #12 Post by **N1095A** » Fri Jun 01, 2012 2:12 am

I want to be a cowboy, or an astronaut. Maybe a cowboy-astronaut. Sadly there isn't much call for either in the U.S. right now.

Coops · #13 Post by **Coops** » Fri Jun 01, 2012 2:40 am

The only calling I've missed is...

marrying the girl I should have married, and that is all my fault.

I live with it every day, for the last 20 years.

One day I'll get over it.

#14 Post by **Styles Bitchley** » Fri Jun 01, 2012 9:13 am

Coops wrote:The only calling I've missed is...

marrying the girl I should have married, and that is all my fault.

I live with it every day, for the last 20 years.

One day I'll get over it.

Ouch! I hope your current wife isn't a member of the forum!

I used to be a cabinet maker, but then I wanted to be a writer. So I did it. It's never too late to follow your dreams!